


Everybody's Son

by Rudderless



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Episode: s06e25, Eventual McDanno, Gen, M/M, O Ke Ali'i Wale No Ka'u Makemake
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-21
Updated: 2016-08-26
Packaged: 2018-06-09 18:27:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6918253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rudderless/pseuds/Rudderless
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nehele feels like his whole life is just a tossing game for some sick twisted god. They give him something good, letting him have it for a while, before dangling it in his face and snatching it away. Nahele struggles with the events following Steve and Danny's accident and surgery. He's unsure where he fits in to their lives, if he fits at all. To top it all off, the team insists he attend his Junior Prom, but it's more complicated than he let's on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Title from the song of the same name, by Cloves.  
> There needs to be more Nahele-centric fics out there.

This past year has been a whirlwind for Nahele. Most of the serious events happened after he stole Steve’s Marquis. He went from having no guardians and pawning car parts for food, to having not just one but five plus people looking out for him and a fairly good paying job. He went from thinking he was worthless and futureless to having believed he was going places in life. Nahele’s never had this much support before, not even when his mom was alive.

Things started to change completely when his father died in that gas fire. He cried, not because he lost his dad, but because he lost all family connections. He felt lost and broken again; it was amazing to him how immediately Steve scooped him up and started putting the pieces back together. God, it’s barely been a month since that day and now Makaio is dead and both Steve and Danny are in surgery. Everything is happening so fast and all at once and Nahele can’t catch his breath.

Kono has requested that he sit down multiple times but he’s feeling too restless. He’ll sit down when they get news on the guys. The lot of them are littering the waiting area of the hospital ward. Grover came in with a few more scrapes on his knuckles than he left the room with. Chin came back in with him and seemed just a touch less resolved as he was before. For the most part, everyone remained silent.

Nahele lost track of time but shortly after Lou and Chin came back, Kono stretched out her foot to jab him in the calf. “Hey, isn’t your prom this weekend?”

Fuck, prom. He completely forgot about it. Nahele waved it off with a shrug, “Didn’t want to go anyways.”

Lou sat up in the uncomfortable waiting chairs, “Son, you have to go. You’ll regret it if you don’t,”

“It’s not a big deal,” Nahele shoved his hands in the pockets of his board shorts. He avoided meeting Grace’s eyes, knowing she was frowning at him. They had just talked about prom last weekend during dinner. He told her how he was looking forward to it after everything that happened, “Just doesn’t seem right now.”

“They’ll be okay,” Kono reached out and squeezed his wrist, “And they’ll want you to go.”

“Can we not talk about it?”  
“Ok,” Kono raised an eyebrow while giving him a knowing smile, “If you sit down.”

The teenager rolled his eyes and sat down beside the woman. She grinned and squeezed his knee before going back to playing with Grace’s hair. Nahele looked over at the younger girl to see her glaring at him. “Liar,” she mouthed.

“Shut up,” he mouthed back before sliding down in the seat and closing his eyes. Despite Kono’s disapproval, he quickly jumps back onto his feet and proceeds to pace until the sun is up and no news has been given still. He tries taking deep breaths, rubbing his hands over his face, but his stomach is tightening up from a mix of anxiety and lack of food and there is a throbbing behind his eyes from not sleeping. No one slept a wink that night, not even Grace, though Chin got her to lie down on two chairs.

When the doctor comes out, everyone holds their breath. It’s not until he says the words, “They’re going to be okay,” that they all sprung to life. Nahele had dropped down into a chair at the arrival of the doc, fearing the worse. Once he knew the men were okay, he rested his head back against the wall with relief. He closed his eyes tightly and listened to his friends, his _ohana_ , celebrate. The pressure behind his eyes builds and he knows that if he opens them, he’ll start crying. Still, he smiles to himself and thanks whatever sort of god out there helped get Steve and Danny through that surgery.

Nahele jumps a bit when someone touches his arm. He opens his eyes to see its Kono, leaping towards him with wide open arms. “Come here, you,” she pulls him to a standing and wraps her arms around his shoulders tightly. His body goes stiff, unsure of what to do. They’ve never hugged before. Kono gives his body a squeeze, silently telling him that it’s okay. He can breathe now. Steve’s gonna make it. Finally, Nahele relaxes and hugs her back tightly. If he lets a tear fall onto her shoulder, so what. Kono pulls back enough to hold her hands against his cheeks and to smile kindly, she whips the bridge of his nose where the tear is traveling, with her knuckle, “its okay now.”

Since the guys are still unconscious and are in ICU—just a precaution, the doctor says—they can’t have many visitors at a time. Kono goes into Steve’s room first and comes back out with glossy eyes. She hugs her cousin tight, kisses Grace on the top of her head and takes her hand so they can see Danno. As they pass Nahele, Grace pulls away from her Auntie and barriers her face just below his chest. This is something they’ve never done before either. Giving in to Grace is much easier than it is with Kono. Nahele has to bend his body over the girl, but he hugs her shoulders and rests his cheek on her head. They stay like that for a few moments before she pulls away and goes back to grabbing Kono’s hand without a word.

Chin nods towards Steve’s door, “You wanna go in there?”

“He’s not awake,” Nahele reminds the older man. According to the doctor, Steve is still pretty pale from the blood lose. He won’t look as bad as he did going in, but he’s not quite Steve yet. To Nahele, that basically means Steve looks like a dead body. He’s not sure he wants to see the man like that.

“It’s okay,” Chin’s mouth lifts at the corners. Nahele realizes that he doesn’t have a choice in the matter; he is going in that room whether he liked it or not. “I can go in there too if you want.” 

“Uh, no, thanks brah,” he tries shaking it off like it’s not a big deal. On the inside, his heart is racing. Chin holds open the door but doesn’t pressure Nahele to go through. He waits until he’s ready. After taking a deep breath, Nahele goes through the threshold. When he sees Steve unconscious on the table, his stomach leaps. He thinks he’s gonna throw up, even doubles over, but instead he starts crying.

 _Stop crying,_ one of the million thoughts in his head says, _why are you always crying lately?_

The other thoughts are screaming, _thank god. He’s okay. He’s not going anywhere. You’re not alone again. I was so scared._

Nahele manages to shuffle over to the table and drops his head down on Steve’s chest as lightly as he can manage while losing his resolve. He holds onto the man’s arms with both hands and lets his tears fall onto his chest as he sobs. He’s not sure how long he cried, obviously not long since Chin didn’t run in worried, but long enough to collect himself. Nahele stood up and wiped his face with his hand; he took a shaky breath as he looked at Steve’s resting face. The doc was right, he still is pale. But his jaw is stubbly and his eyelashes are long and his hair somehow still looks good. He’s still Steve. Nahele rests his hand on Steve’s forehead for a moment; his skin is warming up under his touch and the rise and fall of his chest is enough reassurance that they’re making it through this.

Two nurses come into the room, making him jump. He’s been pretty jumpy lately.

“Oh, we’re sorry sweetie,” one of them says with a kind smile, “But we have to get him ready to move him to recovery.”

“Recovery?” Nahele questions.  
“You don’t want him hanging out in this room all day do you?” the other nurse jokes. The room is pretty cold; Steve’s laying middle of the room with just a blanket over him like a corpse. Nahele nods and the women start prepping for whatever it is they’re gonna do to Steve, “You can see your dad the second he’s in his new room.”

Nahele’s heart stops. He should correct her, but how? What is Steve to him if not a dad? He’s more than a big brother, more than a guardian. This nurse is just the first to say it. Granted, she doesn’t know their history. For all she knows, Steve is his blood related father. Since his tongue is too tied to talk, Nahele just nods and rushes out of the room. Chin is waiting, leaning against the wall across from the room, and stands straight when he sees the panic on Nahele’s face.

“Everything okay?”  
“He’s going to a new room,” Nahele swipes his hand down his face and rolls his shoulders, “Can I have coffee?”

Chin’s shoulders sigh with relief before he chuckles. He grabs Nahele’s shoulder and shakes the boy, “Absolutely not. How about some food though?”

“Food? Yeah, food sounds good.”

The night, Five-0 uses their charms to convince the night shift to let them stay until morning. Visiting hours don’t apply to them, thank god. The nurses even help bring in extra chairs. Lou and Chin are talking quietly by the window while Kono is speaking on the phone in the hallway. Nahele thinks it’s to Duke, who left earlier for his shift.

He and Grace are sitting by the small rolling table reading pointless magazines when they hear a gravelly voice.

“Steve?”

Grace springs up from her seat. She almost trips racing over to her father’s bed. “Danno!”

“Monkey,” Danny blinks the sleep away as best as he can. His throat is extremely dry, Nahele assumes, as he’s smacking his lips together and his breath sounds a bit wheezy.

“I’ll get him some water, if they’ll let it,” Grover offers. When he passes Danny’s bed, he squeezes the other man’s foot over the blanket and smiles, “Good to have you back, brother.”

“Lou,” Danny gives a lazy smile, “Good seeing your ugly mug again.”

Lou shakes his chuckling head before leaving the room. Chin goes to the other side of the bed, standing between the two patients and blocking Nahele’s view of Danny’s face, “How you feeling, brah?”

“Like someone stole half my liver,” Danny remarks. “Oh, wait, nope. That bastard did.”

“Danno,” Grace complains against her father’s chest. Danny just laughs. When he sobers up, the air in the room thickens.

“How is he?”  
“He’s good,” Chin informs him, “Still unconscious; the doc says it might take longer for him to wake up than you. But he’s doing well, supposedly. You both did amazing.”

He must be nodding. For a moment the only voice is Danny’s murmering comforting things to Grace. Nahele feels completely out of place, like he shouldn’t be in the room. He looks at Steve’s still form but that doesn’t help. Instead he counts the number of tiles on the floor that have chips in them.

“Hey, where’s the boy?” Danno questions. Nahele doesn’t think anything of it; he had to mean little Chuck. Out of the corner of his eye, Nahele sees Danny roll his head to the side so he can see around Chin’s body, “There he is. You, get over here.”

Nahele tenses, “Me?”

“Yes, you, knucklehead,” Danny rolls his heavy eyes. He lifts his hand up to flap his fingers towards his palm and rests his head back against the pillow, “Come here.”

Nahele hesitates to get up out of his chair. It’s always been Steve he talks to the most. Sure, Danny’s been there for a lot of moments, but so has Chin and Kono, and Lou and Max, and Kame and Flippa. All of them.

He shuffles over to Chin’s side, staying by Danny’s feet until the man rolls his head instead of his eyes and motions for him to get closer. Nahele ends up sitting on the bed near Danny’s thigh, not wanting to be around his stomach incase he brakes the guy. Grace is sitting on his other side, facing Nahele and holding her dad’s hand tight.

“How you doin, you okay?” Danny asks with his hand on Nahele’s leg. Nahele swallows a lump in his throat; he nods his head and shrugs. The hand on his leg grips it tighter, “Don’t give me that. Don’t lie to me. You okay?”

“I’m…” Nahele presses his lips together tightly, “You guys scared me, is all.”

Danny sighs as he stares up at the ceiling for a moment. He must have been terrified, even more so than Nahele was. That was his partner that he saw get shot; that was his partner he had to fly a plane with while unconscious. Danny doesn’t even know how to fly. And then they crashed; and they had to catch the bad guys; and then he had to give Steve his liver. Nahele should stop wallowing, he has no right.

“It was pretty scary,” Danny admits for their benefit. His hand on Grace’s head strokes her hair but his eyes go back to Nahele. They narrow in on his movements before Danny’s face scrunches, “What are you doing? Come on. Don’t feel bad about being scared.”

“How did you…”  
“I’ve seen what feeling selfish looks like, I’ve looked feeling selfish before, and it’s all over you. And I’m telling you to stop it. Your guy was hurting, and a lot of bad stuff has happened to you lately, right?” Nahele wasn’t sure he was supposed to answer, so he nods instead, “So you have every right to feel scared, alright? Smile.”

When Nahele doesn’t, Danny reaches up and shakes his shoulder. He clenches his teeth jokingly as he shakes Nahele around, “Smile,” he demands. Grace is giggling and Chin is chuckling. Nahele can’t help but to too, “Alright! There it is! Look at that handsome face, huh? Beautiful. Don’t worry bout Steve; he’s indestructible. Like a pesky cockroach. Where is Lou with my water? We live on an island; there’s water everywhere.”

“I’m here, man, quit whining,” Lou shuffles in, followed by a smiling Kono. She immediately leans down to hug Danny around the shoulders and receive a kiss on the cheek from him, “It’s so good to see you.”

“Not as good to see you,” Danny pats her cheek lightly. He thanks Lou for the ice chips, to which he remarks, “What am I, a pregnant woman? Remind me, what does ice turn into when it melts? Water? You don’t say.”

They’re all distracted by his rambling over ice chips that they barely hear the small, “Danno,” from the other side of the room. Nahele knows that if Danny wasn’t attached to fluids and monitors that he would have sprung up from the bed and latched onto Steve. He sat up as far as he could but ended up wincing. Kono figured out how to raise the head of the bed so he can sit up without hurting himself.

“Steve? Babe? You up?”  
“Danno?”

Kono and Grace both went to Steve’s side. The older woman did the same thing to Steve’s bed as she did to Danny’s, just slower and not as high. She put it far enough that he only has to turn his head to see Danny. When he does, his eyes light up. The color has returned to his face in the last few hours, but now he looks like his old self. Nahele’s heart finally relaxes.

“Hey, partner.”

“Hey, partner?” Danny’s face scrunches up.

Lou crosses his arms over his chest and chuckles with Chin, “Here we go.”

“Hey, partner?” Danny repeats with a frown, “Because you got shot, I had to fly a plane. Over water. With a criminal pointing a gun to my head and bags of drugs in the back. I crashed said plane into an innocent beach, thanks to you. I gave you half a vital organ to save your ass, and you wake up and say, ‘Hey, partner’?”

Steve’s face flashes through many emotions during Danny’s rant. Concern, fear, amusement, and then full on panic. “You did what?”

“Whoa there, boss,” Kono pushes on Steve’s shoulders to keep him from sitting up. He settles back into the bed and sighs, “Easy. You don’t want to pull anything.”

“What the hell is Danny talking about?” Steve looks at the adults in the room. Chin’s about to speak when Danny speaks up.

“He’s talking about the fact that a part of me is literally growing inside of you, Steven,” Danny remarks. He holds his finger up in front of Nahele when the boy starts to snort, “ _Don’t_ even say it.”

“Can I say it?” Kono jokes with an amused smile.

Steve waves this all off to look at Danny over the railing on his bed, “Danno…you did…I can’t believe you actually…I mean…”

“Yeah, yeah,” Danny swats his hand in the air, his finger tips whacking Nahele in the arm, “You can thank me later.”

Nahele watches Grace drape herself over Steve’s shoulders. Her uncle hugs her with one arm and kisses above her ear, “Hi, sweetheart.” Kono is the next, kissing her boss on the temple and rubbing his shoulder, “What about the case…?”

“Uh uh,” Lou interrupts, “We all agreed not to speak a word to either of you about it; only that we got it covered. You two just rest up.”

“That’s gonna be impossible for this guy,” Danny nods towards his partner. Nahele can never tell if they hate each other or are madly in love with each other. He figures somewhere in the middle most days. Danny’s easy smile tells him it’s more towards the love right now, “Expect him to be trying to sneak into the office by breakfast.”

“You guys are clearly not about to clock out,” Chin claps his hands together, “I think it’s best you guys get more sleep and we should get home too.”

“Yeah, Monkey,” Danny holds his hand out for Grace. She detaches herself from Steve’s side to hold onto her dad’s hand, “You should get some sleep. You stay up all night?”

“Had to,” she shrugs.

“My daughter, what a champ,” Danny beams with pride. “Go home, get some sleep, alright? You can come back later. And you,” he points to Nahele, “Go home and shower. You stink. Geez, you’re grown now, you gotta bathe, daily if not twice, yesh.”

He’s kidding, completely, just to make Nahele smile but he checks his armpit just in case. Grace crinkles her nose.

“Gross.”

“Gross?” Danny squeezes her shoulder, “Take a good look at that boy. That’s your future if you wanna date when you’re older. Get used to it.”

“Okay, now I know Danny’s drugged if he’s talking about Grace dating,” Kono laughs, “That’s our queue to head out. We’ll see you in the morning, Boss. Rest up, aright?” She gives Steve another kiss on the cheek before going over and doing the same to Danny, “And watch the nagging; it makes your heart monitor spike.”

“Good; they’ll  have evidence of the stress he puts on my heart,” Danny jokes. “Night, sweetheart.”

The men say goodbye to their male colleagues as well, promising they’ll sleep. While Danny is hugging Grace goodnight and saying they’ll see each other as soon as she wakes up. Charlie can come too. Nahele pats Danny’s leg, earning himself a nod and smile from the man who has his arms full of a cuddly Grace. He’s about to slide off the bed and walk out the door when Steve calls out.

“Hey,” his horse voice demands. Nahele freezes with his back towards Steve, “Where do you think you’re going, get over here.”

The boy slowly turns around and keeps his head down while he makes his way to his…guardian? His guardian’s bed.

“Come here,” Steve says a little more gently now that he’s closer, “Sit down. You alright?”

Nahele sits on the edge of the bed like he did with Danny, only now more mindful of the gunshot wound on Steve’s left side.

“If he says no, don’t believe him,” Danny peps in. Grace is already out the door with Kono and Chin. “He pulled the same thing on me. He’s becoming as emotionally stunted as you.”

Steve nudges Nahele with his knee, “What’s he talking about? Why’d you lie to ‘im?”

“Don’t know,” Nahele shrugged. He avoided Steve’s eyes, keeping his eyes on the blanket he’s picking with his fingers. “I didn’t want either of you to worry; I’m okay. You’re the ones hurt.”

“We were,” Steve corrects, “I’m still hazy on all of this but, last I checked we’re still breathing.”

“Yup,” Danny pats his chest, “Hearts still beating; I’m good.”

Nahele cracks a smile but it doesn’t make him feel any better. In fact, he feels like shit. He feels like his whole life is just a tossing game for some sick twisted god. They give him something good, letting him have it for a while, before dangling it in his face and snatching it away. He really thought Steve was being snatched away from him yesterday. He doesn’t realize he’s crying until a drop falls on his fingers. When he sees it, he cracks.

Nahele bows his head and pinches his eyes with his fingers, “It’s so stupid.”

“Hey,” Steve sits up as much as he can without straining himself. He grips onto Nahele’s shoulder, “No it’s not. I promised you I would do everything I can to protect you; and I can’t do that if I’m not here. That means I’m not going anywhere, ever. You understand me? Nothing is taking us away from each other.”

“Promise?” Nahele felt like a little boy, begging his mom not to leave him during a storm. His chin wavered, making his lip wobble. He pulled his lips into his mouth and tried to stop the tears from pooling in his eyes. Steve’s eyes seemed glossy too; or maybe everything was from his own tears.

“Come ‘ere,” Steve pulled Nahele close by the back of the neck. He bumped their foreheads together and kept the kid there while he cried gently. Steve’s fingers scratched Nahele’s scalp, helping calm him down. He kept his eyes closed before holding onto the side of Steve’s neck to just feel his pulse beat against his palm. They both took a deep breath together before Steve kissed Nahele’s forehead and pulled him to his shoulder for a hug. “I promise.”

 


	2. Are We A Family?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nahele finally breaks about why he doesn't want to go to prom; him and Danny have a real heart to heart, which makes Nahele start questioning how he really fits into all their lives.

The nurses’ think they’re the cutest family in the world—and _oh, is Nahele so handsome, look at those dimples_ —therefore they get to do whatever they want; like have wheelchair races in the hallway. Nahele is showing Grace how to lean back just right so the chair is balancing on the back two wheels. She keeps trying but chickens out the second the front wheels lift.

“It’s all about the muscle,” Nahele teases as he does a three-sixty. Grace rolls her eyes and continues moving back and forth in her own chair.

“Show off,” while Nahele figures out how to hop in the chair, Grace places her cheek on her fist and frowns, “Why aren’t you going to prom anymore?”

Nahele groans. This is the third time she’s asked him today; Kono has asked him twice, even offering to take him—which is not half a bad idea considering most of the guys at school think she’s a total babe—and Chin said he can take the sports car.

“Why would he need your sports car?” Steve had asked. “What about mine?”  
“He says he likes mine better.”

“Uncle!” Nahele immediately looked to Steve with wide eyes, “I said I liked the color more, that’s all.”

Steve frowned up at the ceiling, “Well. If you liked Chin’s car so much, you should have stolen it instead.”

Nahele’s starting to like it more when Steve was unconscious.

“Grace, drop it, alright? I just don’t want to go,” he insists. He asks her if she wants to race down the hallway again. But she stays put and watches him with knowing eyes. It’s unnerving how she can just look at someone and they’ll want to confess; Danny says she gets it from her mother, but Nahele’s seen the detective question a perp before. “I don’t have a date, for starters.”

“What? You did last week. Did she cancel?”

“No.”  
“Oh. Did she find another date?” Grace tries not to smile, “That would suck.”

“No,” Nahele sighed. He dropped the chair down so it was on all four wheels and placed his head in his hands, “I don’t want to talk about stupid prom anymore. Besides, the guys need me.”

Grace scrunched up her nose, “No, they don’t. What they need is for their beds to be closer; they’re gonna pop something trying to reach for each other all the time. It’s so gross.”

“The nurses already think they’re our dads,” Nahele rubbed his forehead tiredly. He didn’t sleep well last night, or the night before that. Chin’s been staying at Steve’s house with him so he isn’t alone but it still feels weird being there without him.

“So,” Grace shrugs, “Aren’t they?”

Charlie comes running down the hallway, filling the air with giggles before he crashes into Nahele’s legs. The teenager immediately scoops the young boy up and holds onto his waist tight so he doesn’t fall while he tips the chair back. “Chuck and I verse you. First one to pass the nurses’ station wins Danno’s cherry Jell-O.”

Grace sees right through the diversion but agrees anyways. Charlie is a mess of laughter, making an older woman visiting her daughter or husband shushes them. Grace is the one to apologize, although she’s laughing too as she pulls Charlie from Nahele’s lap and into hers. No one else cares about them having fun in the hallways; everyone is recovering on this floor, no one in any serious danger unless something turns for the absolute worst. Danny says the lady has a stick up her wrinkly butt.

The elevator dings down the hall. Jerry walks out with a cloud of balloons spilling out with him and a bag full of board games. “Hey little dudes,” he ruffles up Charlie’s hair and fist bumps Nahele, “and little lady. I got the worst balloons I can find, you think these are okay?”

“Jerry those balloons say ‘It’s a boy!’” Nahele laughs.  
“I was thinking we can cross the boy out and write liver!”

One of the younger female nurses named Lilli comes over to help him with the strings of balloons, “Whoa, there. That’s quite the arrangement of balloons. I’m assuming they’re for the Commander?”

“No, for Danno!” Charlie cheers. Grace holds him back so he doesn’t spill out of the wheelchair, “What about flowers?”

“I believe Commander McGarrett has those covered. He says the flowers in the hospital remind him of funerals,” quickly, he holds his hands up and smiles apologetically at the nurse, “No offence.”

“None taken,” Lilli smiles charmingly. “I’ll take these to your dads’ rooms,”

As she passes them, she squeezes Nahele’s shoulder with her free hand and gives him a sweet smile over her shoulder. Grace fake gags while Nahele’s face heats up.

“She likes you, you know,” Grace informs him as she tries pulling Charlie back from grabbing the wheelchair lock. Nahele does know this; Lilli is a very cute girl, who has to be a few years older than him. She’s sweet and caring and her cheeks blush whenever she laughs. Nahele finds her perfectly nice, “You should ask her to prom.”

“What? No.”  
“You don’t have a date to prom?” Jerry starts pushing Grace and Charlie towards the hospital room. “You can always go stag.”

Nahele cursed towards the sky above, “I’m not going at all, okay? Why is everyone so interested in my social life? There are two men with half a liver inside them. Let’s talk about that.”

Of course, Steve does not want to talk about that when they get into the hospital room. Danny asks them who won their races, but they weren’t keeping track. Charlie steals the Jell-O anyways and happily eats it curled into Steve’s side. Steve scratches his hair with his fingers while the kid eats, “Did you have fun?”

“Hmm,” Charlie hums around the plastic spoon. Danny chuckles over at the two, “’Hele tips the chair.”

“Does he now?” Danny raises an eyebrow towards the tall boy, “You tip over my son?”  
“To an extent,” Nahele defends himself, “I had it perfectly under control.”

“You know that nurse, Lilli, was just in here giving me balloons,” Danny waves at the baby bottle bumping into the beer mug, “Rather inappropriate balloons but still. She’s cute.”

Steve chuckles, “She’s a bit young for you, Danno. Then again, not much younger than Melissa…”

“Charlie, hit Uncle Steve for me.”

Instead, Charlie leans his head and gives Steve a sticky kiss on the cheek. The man coos before swiping the back of his hand over his stubble, “Nice. Now I smell like cherry.”

“It’s yummy,” Charlie holds the spoon out for his uncle. Steve makes a show of taking a large bite, making the boy giggle. “My favorite.”

“Mine too,” Steve says with his mouth full, “Danny’s right though, Nahele. She is cute.”

“Not interest,” Nahele drops himself down in the visitor’s chair he’s taken over since yesterday. “Danny, congratulations. I didn’t know you were pregnant.”

Danny rolled his eyes at the balloon bumping about above him. “Great. Another boy. Like we don’t have enough.”

Jerry frowns in confusion, “You have one son.”

“One,” Danny points to Charlie, who is now slack in the crock of Steve’s arm. He’s getting a bit tired, but refuses to stop eating the Jell-O cup until it’s all gone. Steve uses his finger to keep a piece of red desert from falling off his chin and pops it back in the boy’s mouth. Danny grins at the sight before pointing at Nahele, “Two. One-Two.”

 _Wait, what?_ Suddenly Nahele’s hands felt very sweaty. He’s felt overwhelmed with love in these past two days, not just from Steve and Danny, but from the rest of Five-0 and their friends. But all the comments from the hospital staff like ‘time for your dad’s meds’ or ‘aw, your little brother is so adorable,’ has him a bit uncomfortable. There is no real harm in letting total strangers believe whatever it is they believe; he just doesn’t want to get used to hearing this. Truth of the matter is, when they get out of there, Nahele probably won’t see all of them too much. Steve, sure, but not this consistently.

Steve seems a bit stunted too; Danny did say _we_ , implying the two of them as a unit. The night nurse for Danny thinks they’re a handsome couple, and asked how long they’ve been together. Steve had rolled his eyes while Danny said “6 grueling years” but he’s had trouble thinking about anything else since. Now this.

Before either of them could say anything, Eric strides in with a giant white teddy bear with a heart in its hands. He places it at Danny’s feet, making everyone laugh except his uncle. “What the hell is that?”

“It says ‘get well soon,’” Eric points to each letter on the heart as he reads it. “And look.”

He pushed the paw and the cheeks light up pink; it spoke with a childlike voice, “Feel better.”

“That’s kind of creepy,” Steve laughed at the astonished look on Danny’s face.  
“Get rid of it,” Danny waves one hand while hiding his eyes with the other, “Go, shoo. I don’t want it.”

Grace rolls her eyes at her father, “It’s just a bear, Danno.”

“A demonic bear.”  
“I have this theory that…” Jerry states, but everyone makes complaining noises. They’ve heard countless theories from Jerry; most ridiculous, like how Y2K was real because of iPhones and technically brainwashing us and taking down our government. “The government puts secret security cameras in those things.”

“Eric, take the government out of the room,” Danny instructs. Eric’s face falls into a pout. Nahele tries not to look at his face too much; it makes his chest tighten when Eric smiles or tells an inappropriate joke. This is something Nahele hasn’t had in check since a barbeque last year at Steve’s house. It’s pathetic, honestly. “And why do I smell hotdogs?”

“Not hot dogs, Uncle D,” Eric picks up the plastic food bag that he had set down next to the teddy bear, “Puka dogs.”

Steve groans, he sulks back into his bed and pulls Charlie with him. The kid frowns in confusion as his uncle pretends to weep, “I hate you, so much.”

“One Veggie dog with mild garlic lemon sauce and pineapple relish for little cuz,” Eric hands Grace the container holding her food. Her eyes lit up with excitement. “And a polish dog with the hot stuff and mango relish for my man over there.”

Nahele tries not to blush too hard. He takes the container and smiles when Eric winks, “Thanks, brah.”

“What bout me?” Charlie asks. His eyes are starting to droop and he doesn’t seem like he’d be happy leaving Steve’s side.

“What bout you?” Steve taps his finger against Charlie’s arm that is draped over his chest, “You just scarfed down three chicken tenders and Danno’s Jell-O.”

“Can I have yours?”

Danny tries not to smile too much when he brings up that it’s getting to be bedtime. Charlie whines into Steve’s side and makes himself as small as possible. Steve rubs his arm, “No. I wanna stay.”

“I can bring him home, if you need me to,” Jerry offers when despite fighting what the adults are saying, Charlie yawns and practically drops his head down onto Steve’s chest. “Or is Rachel coming by?”

“You’re funny,” Grace comments before taking a big bite of her veggie dog, “She’s not coming here; she didn’t even stop in when she dropped us off.”

Nahele always hates when his friends complain their mothers being bitchy or telling them what to do. He wishes they would appreciate their mom’s while they still have one. But he completely understands Grace being upset with her mom. Nahele doesn’t like the woman, personally; even before the Charlie news broke out. He finds her pretentious and knows she doesn’t see the purpose of him being around. But then again, how can you hate anything that made half of Grace and Chucky?

“Although I can do without the attitude, Grace is right,” Danny says to Jerry, “They could use a lift if you don’t mind.”

“My pleasure.”  
“Don’t be filling my kids with ideas about UFOs and stuff.”

“Wait, what?” Grace frowns. She drops her food into the container so she can give Danny her full attention. She tries to look serious despite the amount of food puffing up her cheeks, “I don’t want to go home yet. I wanna hear why ‘Hele won’t go to prom.”

Steve hummed with agreement, “As do I. Nahele?”

He can’t tell them now. Not when their moods are just finally lifting and Eric is standing in the room. It’s awkward enough having to tell Steve, let alone a room full of people. The struggle must show on his face, because Jerry announces he should get the car seat in the minivan and Eric volunteers to carry his little cousin down the stairs. Grace is reluctant to leave, but kisses both her father and her uncle of the cheek before dropping her food container in Nahele’s lap. She licks her fingers clean of relief before pointing at him, “this isn’t over.”

Later that night, Steve is sleeping on his own, since he refused medication _again._ He’s in such a deep state that he’s snoring. It would be irritating if it wasn’t such a relief that he’s getting some actual rest. Danny complained about it for a minute or two before giving in and smiling over it. Every once in a while, Steve’s lips escape air like a horse and Danny’s face lights up more than Nahele’s seen it in the past two days.

It’s only 8, and normal visiting hours are until 830, so he has some time to spare until Chin calls saying he’s downstairs to pick Nahele up. He’s flipping through the TV channels, hoping to find something mindless to watch when Danny speaks up.

“You want to tell me what’s going on with this prom issue?”

Nahele shrugs without looking away from the TV hanging on the wall. “Not really.”

“Alright,” he hears the man sigh, “Let me rephrase that. Tell me what’s going on with this prom issue or I will volunteer to chaperon, drag your ass there by the ear and refuse to leave your side the whole night.”

Nahele scuffs. Danny can’t chaperon; he’s gonna be out of work for 6 months, and in the hospital for at least three more weeks. But he’ll find a way to do it, Nahele’s sure of it.

He’s not much of a sharing person. Not when it comes to emotions, that is. Opening up to Steve seems natural; he spilled his guts out on day one and it seems like he hasn’t been able to stop since. It’s surprising, considering how Danny is the father and the one who is more open to talking about things like feelings and conflicts than Steve, who wants to push a lot of things under the rug. It shouldn’t be hard talking to Danny, especially after all that’s happened these last few days; yet, Nahele’s heart races and his hands sweat and he knows he’ll tell the truth but he’s scared it’ll come out like word vomit.

“I can’t go to the prom because my date died.”

That seems good enough for now, he thinks as he continues flipping through channels. For a while, the only sounds in the room are the men’s monitors beeping and the various television shows changing rapidly. Grace taught him a game she plays with Danno, where they skip through channels until a word is spoken and they make up one long sentence. Nahele doesn’t think he’ll get away with trying to play that at the moment.

Danny finally speaks, “Your date was that kid? Makaio?”

Nahele sighs. He turns in his chair so he’s facing the beds and runs his hands through his unkempt hair, “It wasn’t really a date. We told everyone we were going stag but we were gonna hangout before and stuff. I don’t know. We were friends; I liked him, a lot. That’s why…what happened, was so surprising. I didn’t know he was doing drugs; we never spoke of it. Makaio was smart; I didn’t think he would do something like that, and at school, too.”

Danny nods side to side and shrugs. He seems to be assessing the situation before he speaks again, “Well, people surprise you, even your good friends or family. And I can understand you  not wanting to go after what happened to Makaio. Even if you weren’t going together, a major school event such as prom could be upsetting when you can’t enjoy it with a friend.”

Nahele ignores the way his eyes sting. No one knew about him going to prom with Makaio. No one knew he even liked Makaio, or boys for that matter. He thinks he might like both boys and girls, but lately his eyes seem to be drawn more towards male surfers or this kid on the track team, or Eric. Hell, he’s lost track of how many times he caught himself staring at Charlie Fong from the lab or even Chin. It’s a relief that someone finally knows.

“But it could help you get your mind off of things too,” Danny continues. He takes a deep sigh before grabbing the remote for his bed and pushing the button to lift the head of the bed. Once he’s sitting up more comfortably to look at Nahele, he licks his lips and starts to speak, “I had a good friend die in high school too. My best friend, actually. His name was Pauley. He, well we both did, we got mixed up in some pretty bad stuff, and he didn’t make it out of it like me. This was just before summer vacation; for Juniors, we go to this class trip to the amusement park. It’s kind of lame now that I think back on it, but we were all excited, you know? Summer meant freedom. I kept saying I didn’t want to go anymore, not with Pauley. But then my Ma told me that I should enjoy it because he won’t be able to. I’m glad I went, too; it made me feel better and I knew he would have wanted me to enjoy it.”

“I-I’m sorry bout your friend,” Nahele rubs the back of his neck nervously, “But I don’t know if I can…I don’t have that many friends. Makaio was the only one who didn’t treat me differently after my mom died and my dad went away. I don’t think I would enjoy being in a room full of people who don’t even know I’m there.”

“Understandable,” Danny nods, “Will you at least think about it? Please? Someone has to be having fun; me and the old man over there will be just laying here wasting minutes.”

It’s supposed to be a joke to make him smile, but it makes Nahele feel worse. He definitely couldn’t have fun knowing Steve was laying in a hospital bed. He should have said so, too, but he doesn’t want to have an argument with Danny over it. He’ll insist that Nahele goes and he’ll insist that he doesn’t. No one would win.

“I’ll think about it,” Nahele agrees for the sake of shutting the detective up. Danny smiles with appreciation. “Are you gonna tell Steve?”

Danny shrugged, “Are you?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you want me to?” Danny offers, “You know he’s been worried about why you don’t want to go. He’ll understand if he knows.”

“I-I’ll tell me, I guess. Maybe tomorrow.”  
“Tomorrow as in the day before prom,” Danny chuckles, “Cutting it close kiddo.”

Nahele gives him a toothily, devious grin, “I live on the edge.”

“Great,” Danny throws his hands up in the air. “There are two of them.”


	3. A Night to Remember

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The guys finally pressure Nahele into attending prom, but it doesn't turn out how they all expect.

****

Walking into the hospital has become something Nahele looks forward to. The day shift guard always smiles and nods at him when he walks into the main building. He’s been told by many elderly women that he’s very handsome and a sweet young boy. The nurses on the recovery floor know him by name now and greet him all at once like he’s a close friend or celebrity. It puts him in a good mood, which is nice because it’s hard keeping a smile on his face when every time he looks at Steve, he imagines him getting shot in the air and plummeting to his death.  Nahele’s not thinking it’s his fault, not entirely; but he was the one who went to Steve with Makaio’s OD and got Steve all riled up over the case. He looks at Steve and he sees his pale, still body lying on that cold coat just after surgery.

But today would be a good day, he swore to himself. Yesterday he talked it over with Helen, one of the night shift nurses for the guys, and she agreed that it would be okay to bring them malasadas. But only one each and they have to be jelly, not crème in the middle. Nahele figured it would put a smile on Danny’s face since he’s been whining about the hospital food, and whenever Danny has a smile, so does Steve. Yeah, Nahele’s cracked that code.

He walks into their joined hospital room with a smile on his face, the pastry bag in one hand and a tray of natural pineapple and orange juice cups in the other. He holds them up proudly, expecting cheers of gratitude.  Instead, Danny’s nowhere to be found and Steve sits up in his bed with his constipated face.

“What hell are you doing here?” he asks with a frown. Nahele almost drops the food on the ground, “You’re supposed to be at my house. Odell is gonna be there any minute to cut your hair.”

Nahele rolls his head back with a groan, “Crap.”

“Yeah, crap. We talked about this last night, remember?”  
“No, not really,” he places the food on the sliding tray that’s bridging over Danny’s bed right now. He plops down on the man’s bed and rests his hands behind his head, “I don’t need a haircut. Hi, Vivian.”

The nurse waiting outside the bathroom door gives him a small wave before crossing her arms over her chest. Nahele can tell she’s agitated over something.

“Is he hiding in the bathroom again?” Nahele asks Steve. The Navy SEAL rolls his eyes.

“He says it’s the only time he has freedom. Don’t change the subject; I already paid Odell in advanced for doing this. He says he doesn’t do proms; he’s a barber not a hair dresser.”

“I don’t need a haircut,” Nahele repeats slowly.

The bathroom door opens up slowly and Danny shuffles out. He closes the door close behind him and nods at the red headed woman waiting on him. “Vivian. You, kid, get out of my bed, up. And yes you do need a haircut; you look like Pauly D.”

Nahele crinkles his nose. It’s a habit he’s picked up from Grace evidently. While he slides off the bed, Steve chuckles and wipes a hand down his tired, scruffy face. Speaking of Odell, he should probably get a shave done soon. Nahele doesn’t think it looks half bad, but Steve’s starting to scratch and the sound is starting to get on Danny’s nerves.

“Who’s that?”  
  
“Probably one of his Jersey friends,” Steve teases.  
“How do neither of you know who Pauly D is?” Danny takes his rightful spot in the bed, letting Vivian pull the blankets over him and adjust his pillows, “Vivian, you know who he is right?”

She cracks a smile, “I think it’s better if the boy doesn’t know.”

Once the nurse is gone, Steve buckles his attention back on the earlier topic.

“Nahele, get to my house now. You’re gonna be late,” Steve demands from his bed. Nahele knows he’s restless from the way his foot shakes underneath the blankets. He’s surprised the SEAL hasn’t escaped the hospital at least twice by now. Nahele thinks the only reason he hasn’t yet is because it would worry and involve Danny; not to mention, Steve doesn’t want to do anything to damage the liver Danny so graciously gave to him.

Nahele tried not to whine. Plenty of kids choose not to go to prom; some are even throwing an anti-prom party on the beach. He could say he was going there, but he doesn’t feel like a) lying and b) having to sit all alone in Steve’s house while they thought he was out having fun.

“Are those malasadas?” Danny’s eyes lit up. He rips out his bag and groans up at the ceiling, “Thank you, god. I mean you,” Danny pulls Nahele’s head close to his chest and rubs his hair like a dog, “Best kid ever. Except there is only one in here; why? Why do you hate me?”

“A second ago you were thanking me, now you think I hate you?” Nahele looks over at Steve for help, “Is he always like this?”

“When he’s hungry,” Steve nods side to side, “So yes. Seriously, you got to go, pal. I’m sure Odell is there already and I had Chin make sure your tux is hanging up in my room.”

“Steve, I really don’t feel like…I don’t even have a…”

That feeling like someone was sitting on his chest is back. The back of his neck feels hot and sweats. He looks over at Danny for a second, either for reassurance or a distraction. He’s not really sure. Danny has a pastry pinched between his fingers but he mouths, “Tell him,” before taking a bite. Nahele swallows deeply and turns back to Steve. He’s gonna do it. He’s gonna say it. He’s gonna tell Steve that his date was Makaio and that after everything that happened he really doesn’t feel like attending prom with a bunch of people he doesn’t care about.

He opens his mouth to speak but then he sees Steve’s small, barely there smile. It’s twitching at the corner of his mouth and his eyes are bright and hopeful. He looks like he’s happy, like he’s looking forward to this for Nahele. It’s been a while since someone’s wanted happiness for him; he can’t disappoint Steve, not after what he’s been through.

“Uh, yeah,” Nahele runs a hand through his hair. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to trim it up a bit; it’s a pain to gel. When Steve’s eyes widen and he actually smiles fully, Nahele can’t help but do the same, “Alright, fine I’ll go. Stop looking at me like that.”

“Great!” Steve practically leaps in the hospital bed. He grabs his phone off the side table between his and Danny’s beds and unlocks it, “I’ll pull recon.”

“Oh no,” Danny licks his fingers clean of powder. “You see what happens when you give into peer pressure? He pulls SEAL team 6 on your ass.”

“No one is pulling SEAL team 6,” Steve leans some of his weight on his elbow as he smiles at his phone. He practically giggles with excitement, “She’ll be at the house in an hour, so hop to it.”

“She? She who? Who she? Steve, what did you do?”

“I would ask too, but I think not knowing is way safer for me.”

At the house, Odell rants about being stood up and how it reminded him of his own prom when his date ran off with the football captain. He talks about it the whole time he cuts Nahele’s hair, shaving it down in the back and leaving longer on top so he can gel it still. The man styles it for him and smacks his shoulder to get him upstairs and dressed.

The tux is another favor Steve’s pulled for doing god knows what for god knows who in god knows where. Nahele’s learned it’s easier to accept the favor and not question the linguistics. Steve reassured him that it’s a rental, so he shouldn’t worry about the price. He tried on the tux last week to see if it fit; of course it did like a glove. He’s got the pants, belt, socks, undershirt, dress shirt and jacket on when he realizes that Steve was the one who tied his bowtie and he has no idea how. No one ever taught him.

Before he can panic, the doorbell rings downstairs. Nahele figures it’s Chin, who texted him during the hair cut that he gets the car for the night. He’ll know how to tie this stupid thing.

When Nahele gets downstairs, he stops cold on the steps. It’s not only Chin downstairs but Kono. She’s standing there in a sleek evening gown and her hair up with curls coming down on the sides of her face. She looks stunning; intimidating so. She’s also grinning like a cat and cooing at him. “You look so handsome, oh!”

Nahele blushes immediately. He rolls his eyes and turns to look away while she gushes over him.

“Do a twirl.”

“That’s a girl thing,” Nahele refuses.  
“Huikala, I put on a dress and heals for you. You will twirl when I say so.”

He would laugh if he wasn’t so scared, “Yes, ma’am.”

He does what she asked, making her clap excitedly before grabbing two boxes from Chin’s waiting hands. “Okay, now come here. We’re running late.”

“What? We still have over an hour.”  
“You want to stop by the hospital don’t you? Show off to all the old ladies and nurses? Besides, the guys want to see you before you go.” That last part is the quickest way to get Nahele moving. He jumps off the last step with a sigh and lets her pin the flower thing onto his lapel. He watches her work with such focus. Her eyebrow turns up and she frowns at him, “Why isn’t your tie fixed?”

“Don’t know how,” he admits. He holds the material up and gives her a charming smile, “Please?”

“You’re lucky you’re cute. Give me that.”

Twenty minutes later they’re standing in the hospital room again. Steve and Danny started hollering when he walked in. Now they’re demanding pictures.

“Hey, do me a favor, will ya? Stand over there. Yeah, right there. Perfect. Now smile,” Danny laughs menacingly to himself as he snaps multiple pictures on his phone, “Look at that! Beautiful. Look at him,” he holds his phone out towards Steve as though he can’t see the real thing in front of him. Steve chuckles.

“I see ‘im.”

Danny’s already taken numerous pictures of him, making him stand in numerous positions and locations around the room. There’s only so much you can do in a hospital room in terms of background. Kono took some with him but now she’s taking candid shots of him with a pleased grin on her face. Even Chin has secretly taken one or two.

“Okay, now take that thing off and put it back on,” Danny requests, already wiggling around in his seat to prepare. Kono had put her corsage on at the house. The ribbon matches her maroon dress perfectly, as well as the ribbon on Nahele’s boutonniere. He’s afraid to ask how she got them so soon.  “I wanna get a picture like it’s really happening.”

Nahele throws his head back and groans, “Come on, Danno, this is stupid!”

He doesn’t realize what he’s said until he notices everyone is watching him. Kono is failing at hiding her smile behind her knuckles; she’s practically vibrating. Chin has his chin tipped down to make himself smaller but he gives Nahele a timid, reassuring smile. Steve looks shell shocked; for a moment it’s like he’s not breathing, but then his eyes soften and the corner of his mouth twitches when he turns to look at the man implied.

Nahele hesitates to look at Danny. When he does, he sees him blinking back at him with a blank expression. Nahele’s heart starts speeding like a race horse. This is exactly what he didn’t want to happen. Just yesterday he was telling himself not to get used to this. For the past few days he sees everyone every day. Soon that won’t happen anymore. He’ll probably see Danny twice a week at best and Grace every so often. He’s only met Charlie a handful of times. Yesterday he told himself not to get used to everyone assuming they were family. They were a family; he just wasn’t a part of it.

“Oh,” Nahele’s mouth feels dry. He tries licking his lips but it only makes his throat burn, “Dan-Detective Williams, I’m sorry. I know you don’t like anyone calling—”

Danny’s hand goes up to silence him. Nahele avoids his eyes, looking at his palm instead. His fingers are long, but thick and he knows there are faded tattooed letters on his hairy golden knuckles. Just below the webbing of his pointer finger and thumb, Danny has a cross that he got touched up not too long again. Those are caring, nurturing hands. But all Nahele can see is the barely there scar running down Danny’s palm, caused from a story that he has yet to hear about. He has fatherly hands; but they’re not meant for Nahele.

“’Hele,” Charlie’s nickname for him comes out like an escaped breath. It makes Nahele’s brain short circuit.  He blinks for what feels like minutes and meets Danny’s eyes when he opens his own. The man slowly smiles radiantly, “You can call me Danno.”

The permission feels like he was granted a key to the world. He sighs with relief and smiles nervously, “Really?”

Danny frowns his eyebrows like Nahele grew a second head, “Course you can, why couldn’t you?”

His eyes sting; he blames it on zoning out while looking at one point for too long. Nahele takes a deep breath throw his nose and turns so he’s not looking at either patient. Through the corner of his eye, he sees Chin smile softly at him. The room suddenly feels too small, there’s too little air. The pressure in his head is too tight and he feels like he’ll explode. He shuts his eyes tightly and takes another breath before nodding. He turns back towards Danny to see the man duck his head to look him in the eye, “Okay?” when Nahele nods back, Danny smiles, “Okay. Good. Now stand up straight, I want one more picture I can send to my Ma.”

Prom, just as he imagined it, is a giant ball of anxiety. There’s loud music and kids ‘dancing’ up against each other, and Nahele can’t hear his own thoughts much less hear what Kono is telling him. Prom is in a hotel ballroom this year; Nahele doesn’t know why the school pays so much for a venue when the room is almost completely dark and you can’t even see the walls.

Kono gets him to dance with her, just to make him smile and loosen up a bit. He twirls her around and shows her off and he almost forgets about the two men lying in hospital beds right now. After a song or two, the heat of the room catches up to them and they agree on drinks. Kono announces she has to use the bathroom and would rather drink from a fountain since the punch is more than likely spiked. She encourages him to drink it through.

He goes to the water cooler next to the punch bowl instead. It’s a fancy cooler with a silver nozzle and a clear body. All of this is too flashy for Nahele. The only other dance he’s been to was in the gym in seventh grade. They had streamers hanging from the basketball hoops and they used the cooler from the football games for water in the hallway.

He chugs down two Dixie cups of water and bobs his head to the pop song playing. He can’t tell what it is, the bass is so loud. He scans the room for nothing in particular, but notices a few of his old friends coming by the refreshment table. They don’t even acknowledge him as they pour pink juice into their glasses from their reserved tables. Kathy, a prissy girl with dyed blond hair and too much makeup speaks to Hunter, a mainlander who moved here a few years ago. He’s on the track team with Nahele and most likely to win prom king later. Of course Nahele finds him completely charming and sexy as hell, which doesn’t help when they get paired together in physics.

“I hear the memorial is next week,” Kathy shouts over the music. Nahele gives her the benefit of the doubt and assumes she’s trying to be quiet about it but the room is too loud. He can’t hear Hunter’s response; the guy is _actually_ being quiet. “It’s so sad. His parents didn’t want anyone to miss out on Prom. I’m not going anyways though; I have a dance recital. Did I tell you I’m in a recital? I have a solo…” she goes on and on and Hunter fills up his glass twice and downs them both with boredom. The sight makes him smile despite the conversation twisting his gut. He crushes his Dixie cup and throws it towards the nearest trash can. He doesn’t care if it makes it in or not.

Once he’s out of the ballroom, he feels like he’s stepped off an airplane. The air in the foyer is too thin compared to inside and his ears ache with pressure. They’re ringing so loud he starts feeling dizzy. Or maybe that’s the reminder that his friend, his Makaio is gone. One second, he’s standing still, the next, he finds himself face first in garbage can by the front desk throwing up. The woman behind the counter gasps with disgust and a few customers run off. Nahele vaguely hears his voice being called but the ringing is too much. His throat burns from dry heaving; he hasn’t eaten more than a bowl of cereal and McDonald’s fries all day. A hand resting on his back makes him jump.

“Are you alright?” its Kono. He takes his head out of the garbage but can’t lift it high enough to see her. He tries breathing through his nose but it makes his eyes water and he’s back to spitting in the trash.

Perfect, just how everyone imagines their prom going; being in the trash can.

“Ma’am can you grab me a towel please?” Kono asks the customer service woman. The woman turns her face in distaste.

“They’re for the guests.”  
“I will pay for a room if that’s what I have to do,” Kono sends her a death glare and clenches her jaw, “Towel. Now.”

Nahele doesn’t see the woman race off. He feels the detective rub circles on his back with her palm.

“Aw, you’re drenched,” she lifts his head up with a hand on his forehead and continues to rub his back with her other hand, “I told you to try the punch, not take shots of it.”

“Not the punch,” he admits before throwing up again. He’s in hell; that’s where he is.

Something soft and cool dabs the back of his neck. He stands up straighter with the help of Kono’s hand on his elbow and allows her to pat his forehead before wiping his mouth with the towel. It’s pure white and has a mega high thread count he’s sure. Kono smiles proudly as she dumps the dirty towel on the polished counter. “Whoops. Let’s get you home, alright?”

“No,” he shakes his head. He doesn’t even know where home is anymore. He doesn’t want to start thinking it’s Steve’s, but everyone else apparently does. Kono leads him towards the hotel doors with a hand on each arm. “Can we go to the hospital?”

“For you, or to see them?”  
“Them,” Nahele sighs once they hit fresh air. “I want to see them.”

When they get back to the hotel, it’s almost 1030. From the view of the small window on the door, he sees both the men sleeping soundly. Good; he doesn’t feel like explaining why he’s back two hours before Prom is supposed to end.

“I’m sorry I was a lousy date,”

“Naw, don’t worry about it,” she rubs his cheek with her ringers and smiles, “Not the first time a guy’s thrown up on a date.”

“Then I’m _really_ sorry.”

Kono chuckles and kisses his forehead before saying she’s gonna call herself a cab to go home if he’s okay to drive later. Once inside the hospital room, he can finally breathe. This room, these two men, they’ve become his home, he’s realized. He looks at them sleeping soundly; Danny’s finger twitches in his sleep and Steve’s nose flares every once in a while. They’re both down for the count, he figures.

With a sigh, he undoes Kono’s perfect work on his tie and slides it off his shoulders. He throws it onto the food tray and slumps down in his usual chair. He intended on getting some sleep himself, but the more he looks at Steve’s calm, peaceful face, the worse he feels. He tries holding it in but his mouth starts to shake and his eyes blur from tears. He pulls the chair up closer to Steve’s bed and rests half his body on it so he’s lying over Steve’s legs. He cries into the blanket as quietly as he can.

This was not how his night was supposed to go. This was not how his life was supposed to go. Everything was so complicated and fucked up. Things are hanging by a thread. He feels like he’s going insane.

Maybe he’s cried himself into hallucinating, but he thinks he feels a hand thread through his hair just before he passes out from exhaustion.

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve and Nahele finally have a longly waited conversation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> special thanks to Kate for beta-ing this chapter!  
> In case you were wondering, I did deleted the previous chapter four.

_Nahele is stretching his legs when he feels cool air gust past him. His shirt is caught and his body is tugged with the object causing the wind. He has about five seconds to get with the program before his face will eat pavement. After his feet get their own rhythm on the ground, he pulls his friend’s hand off his shirt and speeds up in his run. Makaio grins charmingly and quickens his own pace. They race each other, dodging pedestrians and lagging tourists like they do every Saturday morning._

_The teenagers make it to the beach and run until the burning in their legs make them fall into the sand. Makaio goes down first, and like he had yanked Nahele into running with him early, he yanks him down to the ground with him. Nahele lands with a grunt. He stretches out his legs and arms, like he’s making a sand-angel. Makaio is panting beside him. Nahele rolls his head to the side and squints against the sun to see his best friend grinning up at the sky with his eyes closed. The sight always makes Nahele feel happier. He smiles to himself and closes his eyes as he focuses on breathing calmer._

_After a few minutes, both their breathing has evened out enough that they can talk. Makaio’s arm falls outward toward him and his knuckles knock onto Nahele’s chest. The action makes Nahele flinch. He looks at his friend with one eye to find Makaio staring at the water. “Hey, I was thinking about going to prom. I know it’s too expensive for just one night and you spend more time getting ready than actually being at the dance, and Senior prom is much better, but it could be fun, don’t you think?”_

_To be honest, Nahele hadn’t thought about prom. Like Makaio said, it was expensive. The ticket alone was like eighty bucks. They hold prom at a fancy hotel—which is stupid because the faculty always complains about kids getting rooms and throwing parties or having sex, yet they don’t move their location somewhere else—and a nice dinner is included. Eighty bucks is actually cheap considering all that’s included. Then there’s the tux, the shoes, a tie, usually some kind of limo or car, and that’s only for him; he’d have to pay for two tickets if he had a date and he’d have to buy flowers too._

_The reason he hasn’t even thought of prom, aside for the cost, is that he’s not interested in anyone to take as a date to the prom. He has a few friends in classes, but no one that really stands out; that is, besides Makaio. If Nahele was being honest, he’d want to go with his best friend. He doesn’t have fun with anyone else. He doesn’t feel like himself with anyone else. When he’s with Makaio, he’s happier. He can look over at the other boy and know that someone has his back, that someone cares about him; and then Makaio smiles or cracks a lame joke, and Nahele forgets to breathe, or how to keep his heart beating._

_So he has a small crush on his best friend; so what? He tries not to think about it, because then it would become a bigger deal than it has to be._

_“Oh, uh, yeah,” Nahele hears himself agreeing. He shrugs and takes a deep breath. His chest still burns from his run but that’s not why his heart is racing. He hopes Makaio can’t feel it pounding against the back of his hand._

_“I guess it sounds cool.”_

_“And it would be really fun if you went with me,” Makaio makes a fist lightly tapping Nahele’s chest. Nahele’s eyes widen in his direction a little lost for words. The bigger of the two grins as he removes his hand and leans his weight up against his elbow. “Come on. I couldn’t image going without you. I wouldn’t have fun otherwise.”_

_“You…you want to go together?” Nahele struggles to sit up. He stumbles a bit in the sand before settling for leaning back with his hands on the ground behind him. “Like, actually together?”_

_“Yeah,” Makaio pushes at his shoulder like he’s asking if he wants to watch a football game or something. He’s surprisingly non challant, Nahele isn’t sure he’s reading this correctly. He prays he is, and that by “together” Makaio means a date. His friend reads his worry off his face and sighs, “It wouldn’t be a big deal. No one would care if we went together. Our school’s got that club now, remember? The uh…GSA club, I think.”_

_So he was reading it correctly. Nahele struggles not to smile too wildly. He has to look away in order to not look like a complete goof ball. He stares out towards the water, listens to the waves crash and the people play and the birds sing. Right there in that moment, with his best friend, he’s felt more peaceful than he has in years. The past year and a half has been chaotic, to put it mildly. His mother died, his father was still in prison, and he’s been in two foster families in the last eight months. Both homes were terrible so he ran off to live on his own, but he had nowhere to live, no money for food. Him stealing cars for parts turned out to be the best decision he ever made, because it brought him Steve._

_After meeting the commander, life just got better. With Steve’s connections to the governor of Hawaii, he was able to get Nahele into a better foster home. This family only had two other foster kids, so they actually payed attention to him. Since he’s older, they don’t mind if he stays out later or sometimes stays at Steve’s instead. In a year, he’d be 18 and he can live on his own outside of the system. After school and on the weekends, he plays football with Steve and fixes up the car he stole. Steve got him a job at the shrimp truck which Nahele loves because sometimes he gets to make his own combinations of flavors. No one really knows this, but he’s always been very interested in cooking. It might not be a proper kitchen or restaurant but the shrimp truck was kind of a dream come true._

_Through it all, Makaio stood by him. They’ve been friends since Makaio moved from another island during middle school. All of Nahele’s other friends stopped talking to him after his dad got sent to prison, and they didn’t know how to act around him after his mother died. Not Makaio. Nahele would be completely lost without him._

_“I don’t know,” Nahele rubs the back of his neck with his hand. Sand flakes into his shirt but he could care less. “I only make so much at the truck and…”_

_“‘A‘ole pilikia! Don’t you worry bout the money,” Makaio waves his hand through the air. He places his hand over his heart and smiles warmly. “I got the ticket covered; what kind of gentleman would I be if I didn’t buy my date’s ticket, huh?”_

_Nahele laughs, “Gentleman, eh? That’s a first, brah.”_

_“Come on, hoaloha—” Makaio’s voice turns soft and his hand falls down to cover Nahele’s in the sand. He turns his hand over so they’re palm to palm and squeezes his hand tight, “—I like you. Go to prom with me?”_

_The sentiment is enough to make Nahele feel light headed. He finds himself nodding and squeezing his friend’s hand back. Makaio’s face grows a wide, toothy smile. It’s slightly crooked to the left and he’s missing a tooth in the back top row. It always makes Nahele’s chest feel tight and warm._

_“Ya?” Makaio asks to confirm. “Ya! Alright. It’ll be great! Don’t you worry bout a thing, Ipo. I’ll take care of it all. Don’t you worry. Come on, I’ll race you back.”_

_Before he know’s it, Nahele is being pulled up to his feet by both his hands. When he gets lifted up, Makaio’s lips peck his quickly and smoothly. It happens so fast, Nahele’s sure Makaio didn’t realize he did it; just like he probably didn’t realize he called Nahele lover. His mom used to call his dad Ipo all the time when he was growing up. Not so much towards the end, but still. Nahele stands there in shock while Makaio dashes ahead of him._

_“Come on, slow poke. You’ll never beat my track record standing there!”_

_Nahele isn’t close to beating anyone’s track record, especially now. He can’t even feel his feet._

_He shakes his head out of it and follows the sound of Makaio’s laughter. Maybe prom wouldn’t be the worst idea. It would be something to look forward to and work for. As long as he’s got Makaio, anything is worth it._

* * *

It turns out that Danno isn’t feeling too well. He spiked a fever over the night and the doctors think he might have an infection or a cold since his immune system is shotty after the surgery. As a precaution, they moved Danny to another room but kept him on recovery. Steve’s system is even more fragile and they can’t risk him getting sick either. Separating the two of them was complete hell, like they were two kids in the sandbox being told they both had to go home.

As they moved Danny out of the room, he held his hand out and lightly grabbed Nahele’s wrist. He leaned in close to whisper, “If there was a better time to talk to him, it’s now.”

Even with a 103 fever, Danny is meddling. That was over an hour ago and Nahele hasn’t moved from standing outside of Steve’s hospital room. He tries mastering up the courage to go in there, but every time he thinks he can handle it, Steve’s face cringes and he holds onto his side, or he coughs, or grumbles to himself about nothing being on tv or nothing to do. Nahele convinces himself that it’s not the right time, that it’s too soon to bring this up to the man, and that he should be focusing on getting better.

They’ll be out of the hospital by the end of the month. They can talk then.

“What’s up, dude?” a familiar voice asks behind him. Nahele looks over his shoulder to see that it’s Eric, Danny’s nephew. It’s silly—stupid even—but every time he sees him, Nahele thinks his crush grows more and more. He fights the blush that he feels burning his neck and looks into Steve’s room as a distraction.

“Uh, nothing. They moved your uncle across the hall.”  
“Was their bickering getting on the nurses’ nerves? It gets on mine. I understand.”

“No,” Nahele chuckles. “Danno is sick, or something. They don’t want Steve to catch it.”  
“Ah,” Eric nods. “Cooties. Got it.”

Eric is so much like Danny—though the Detective denies it—with his humor and his big, bleeding heart. It’s endearing seeing qualities of the man Nahele has grown fond; sometimes it can be weird, but Eric has a lot of good qualities of his own. Like his face; especially his face.

“Is Steve contagious too?”

“Nah, bruddah. He’s good,” Nahele shakes his head. Eric frowns deeply at him. He looks into Steve’s room and sees him flipping through channels aggressively. The man in the bed groans at the TV as he pounds his finger into the buttons on the control. Eric tilts his head with growing curiosity  towards Nahele.

“Then why are you out here, man? You’ve been stuck to McGarrett’s side like gum on a gym shoe,” taking it upon himself, Eric grabs a hold of Nahele’s shoulders and steers him in front of him before giving his back a shove. Stupid Williams’ and meddling. “I think i’ll pay good ol’ Uncle D a visit. Later, buddy.”

Steve tears his eyes away from the TV when the teenager stumbles into the room. His eyes light up with amusement at the boy’s awkward entrance. “You okay there, pal?”

He wants to blame it on Eric, wants to make light of it and play it off. He wants to lay on Danny’s empty bed and watch Steve go through every single tv station eight times. He wants to order bland hospital food and listen to stories about Steve’s favorite cases or missions. Instead, he just watches. He watches the way Steve’s eyes sparkle with mischief like when Danno says something bizarre or Kono does something totally badass. He watches how his face is full of love and acceptance. He watches until the smile on Steve’s face falls into a frown of concern. He watches until his eyes start to sting with tears.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Steve switches off the tv and slowly sits up in his bed. He adjusts his blankets over his lap and pats the spot on the mattress beside him, “What’s goin’ on? Come here.”

Nahele lunges forward but sits down closer to Steve’s feet. He plays with the scratchy blue blanket and refuses to look up at the man who has taken him in in so many ways. Danny had been supportive when he brought up how he was going to go to prom with Makaio. He was supportive about the whole maybe liking guys thing. Okay, not maybe. But Nahele didn’t go into too much detail about it all. Danny just wanted him to tell Steve.

Maybe if he pretends it’s Danny; if he doesn’t look up and he pretends that it’s Danny he’s talking to again. That could work. Nahele’s heart doesn’t race as much when he thinks that. His palms still feel sweaty but he can breathe enough to speak. With one hand gripping the blanket, he rubs the back of his neck with the other.

“The reason I didn’t want to go to prom is because I never wanted to go in the first place. It’s too expensive and I couldn’t afford it on the money I make from the food truck, and I didn’t want to ask you or my foster parents for it because that’s a burden. But then Makaio told me he wanted to go…go with me, and that he’d pay for my ticket so I could go. But paying wasn’t the point. The point is that I only wanted to go with him; and then he…he died and it all seemed so stupid to me. I-I’ve only had him as a friend for so long and I liked him…a lot, you know? So I was happy. Happy that he wanted to go. But then he died. And I would have told you about it, I think; but then the accident happened and I didn’t want to stress you out anymore than you already are. I-prom was the last thing I wanted to do, but you seemed so happy about me going, I didn’t want to let you down. But once I got there, I heard these kids talking about Makaio and his funeral and I felt all light headed and sick and I didn’t have any of the punch, I swear. I didn’t touch the stuff but I…”

“Whoa, whoa,” Steve’s hands came into Nahele’s vision. One of them brushed over his hand holding the sheets. “Slow down, kid. Breathe. Take it one thing at a time. You…you like Makaio? Is that it?”

Unable to meet Steve’s eyes, he just nodded. He heard Steve take a deep breath.

“Okay. Alright, that’s ok. That’s perfectly fine. Why did you think you couldn’t tell me that?”

“I-I don’t know,” Nahele shrugs. “I guess, since it was like a date, I thought you’d freak out. Or be mad. Or something. I don’t really know.”

“Hey,” Steve’s knee underneath the blanket knocks into Nehele’s side. “You don’t have to be scared to tell me anything. I will be here for you always; no matter what. You-you hit someone with your car, I’ll still be there. I think I’d draw the line with murder, but I think that’s understandable, right?”

It makes him laugh, which Nahele knows is why Steve said it. He runs his fingers through his hair and finally meets Steve’s eyes. They’re nothing but open and understanding. Relief washes over him like a cool bath, but then something heavy settles in his stomach. It’s deep and hard and it makes his chest ache feeling it. He’s never had someone be this unconditionally loving towards him before; not since his mom and even then, he wasn’t old enough to have these big conversations with her. It may be a bit misplaced, but talking with Steve is kind of how Nahele pictured talking to his mom. Suddenly, he starts to cry through his smile and he leans all his weight towards Steve. The man catches him before he could hit his head on the bed railing and cradles his head to his chest by the crock of his arm.

Steve hushes him and hugs him around the shoulders as best as he can from this angle. The arm wrapped around him squeezes his upper arm tightly and is being rubbed by his thumb. Nahele cries into Steve’s shoulder, letting everything out. He’s cried since Makaio died, and since the plane crash. It’s felt like he hasn’t stopped crying since. But this was different. This felt, cleansing. Like everything toxic and bad was coming out of him. Steve took it all in stride, holding on and whispering good things in his ear.

After what felt like hours but was probably only minutes, Nahele felt like there was nothing left. He sits up slowly, dislodging Steve’s arms from around him, and wipes his face with the back of his hands. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Steve shakes his head, “Don’t ever be sorry for that. You’ve got a lot on your plate, lately. I get it. I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you about it sooner.”

“You were in a plane crash,” Nahele laughs despite his stuffy nose and wet cheeks. Steve shrugs with a small smile.  
“Nahele, it doesn’t matter to me who you like or what you like doing. As long as it makes you happy and you’re safe. That’s all that matters to me. And when something is bothering you, you have to come to me about it. You can’t bottle it all in; don’t take on other people’s stress and carry it as your own. It’s not your job to protect me. It’s my job to protect you. You’re the kid; your job is to have fun and figure out who you are and to live life to its fullest. Go to prom; have boyfriends, or girlfriends, or don’t date anyone at all, I don’t care. Just be happy about it. Okay?”

That alone made fresh tears start start to well up. Steve took complete ownership over Nahele, as if there was no foster system, no pseudo parents. The nurses calling them a family, him being able to call Danny ‘Danno,’ Grace teasing him like a little sister, Charlie looking at him like a hero and a big brother…and that was only the Williams’. Steve has opened his doors to Nahele in more ways than one; he got him job, puts food on the table when he needs to, gives him money for lunch if he thinks Nahele needs it. He teaches him how to throw a football properly, and how to breathe underwater for longer when swimming. He took him clothes shopping and bought him school supplies. The only thing stopping Steve from being his foster dad is a piece of paper that really none of them need. Still, Nahele doesn’t want to go that far into thinking about it. He doesn’t want to push ideas into Steve’s head that he may not agree with or want.

Nahele sniffs. “So body tattoos, nose ring, motorcycle, all that’s cool?”

“One thing at a time, Bubba, alright?” Steve slaps his arm with a smile. For a second, Steve’s eyes dim and his smile flickers away. He licks his lips and looks towards his window for a moment before meeting Nahele’s eyes. “Hey, I uh, I think since you were so honest about your friend, I should tell you about mine.”

“Danno?” he half teases. Steve’s eyes don’t light up like they should. Nahele sits up straight; if Steve gave his undivided attention and unconditional understanding, he can too.

“No,” Steve shakes his head sadly. “I had this friend when I was training to be a SEAL. His name was Freddie…”

* * *

The nurses wheel Danny into the hospital room the next morning. Steve has been up for hours, all night even, thinking things over. When Danny enters the room, he smiles brightly.

“What’s got you all excited for?” Danny asks as he slips into his old bed. He gets the covers over his legs and lets the nurses attach the wires and monitors that he doesn’t really feel are necessary. Once they’re done and leave the room, he looks over at his partner and can’t help but smile back. It’s a goofy grin, wide and confident and happy. It’s a look Danny has missed seeing on Steve’s face. He chuckles when Steve won’t break eye contact with him.

“What?”

Steve takes in a deep breath and lets out heavily. He nods to himself before meeting Danny’s eyes again, “I decided what I want to do.”

“Oh, yeah?” Danny plays along, “And what’s that?”

Steve shrugs his shoulder, “I’m going to adopt Nahele.”

Danny’s heart monitor jumps a beat. He stares at it with shock before looking back at his best friend, who is unwavered. Steve is dead serious about this; as one should be if saying these things. It takes a minute to digest. Danny licks his lips and thinks it over. After a minute, he nods and tosses his hand back and forth, like he’s weighing the pros and cons.

  
“Yeah. Yeah, that seems about right.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that's it folks. It's been an amazing journey. Thanks so much to everyone who has supported and loved this story as much as I have!

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first posting on AO3.  
> You can find me on tumblr at: theseprezelsaremakingmethirsty


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